Darrell Goulding (born 3 March 1988) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer. He spent nine years of his career with

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

, with whom he won the

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League play-offs. The winning team receives the Super League Trophy and go ...

in 2010 and 2013, and also played for

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

and Salford City Reds in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. He played as either a or on the .

Early life

Goulding was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England, he is a former St. Edmund Arrowsmith pupil. he played for the junior amateur club Wigan St. Patrick's in Ince, Wigan. He was part of Wigan's scholarship scheme and played in Wigan's Academy U18s in 2004 and U21s in 2005.

Club career

Wigan

Goulding signed a two-year full-time contract with Wigan in July 2005, and was drafted into the first team

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the first time in August 2005 and shortly after made his début against Widnes. Goulding scored his first try for Wigan in the 48-22 loss to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on 9 June 2006. Darrell Goulding

On 6 April 2009,

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

centre Martin Gleeson transferred to Wigan in a deal rumoured to involve Goulding, since he had only been played twice in Wigan's first ten Super League matches. However, this rumour was rejected when Goulding was released on loan to

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

on 14 April. Goulding made his Reds' début in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

, France in the defeat by the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

. He made his home début a week later at the Willows, scoring two tries - including a 70-metre interception score against Hull. He added a third for the Salford club in his next Super League game - the away victory at Huddersfield. After returning to Wigan in 2010, Goulding had a breakthrough year, filling in for the injured Amos Roberts for the majority of games. He finished the year with 20 appearances and 25 tries, joint second highest scorer in 2010. Goulding played in the

2010 Super League Grand Final The 2010 Super League Grand Final was the 13th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League XV. Held on Saturday 2 October 2010, at Manchester's Old Trafford stadium, the match was contested by English clubs ...

victory over St. Helens at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. His 2011 season started against St. Helens at the season-opening

Magic Weekend The Magic Weekend (also known as the Betfred Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promot ...

event. After opening his try tally at

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in Round 2, he scored again at

in Round 4 and featured in the

2011 World Club Challenge The 2011 World Club Challenge (known as the Probiz World Club Challenge due to sponsorship) was contested by Super League XV champions, Wigan Warriors, and 2010 NRL Premiers, the St. George Illawarra Dragons, at Wigan's home ground, DW Stadium. ...

team that lost to

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

. Goulding made five further consecutive appearances, including a try in Round 8 against

, but was dropped after their loss in Round 9 to

, in which Goulding's error under the high ball had handed

Frédéric Vaccari Frédéric Vaccari (born 7 November 1987) is a French professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Palau Broncos in the French Elite One Championship. A France international representative , he previously played for Catalans Dragons in ...

a try. He reappeared for Wigan's Round 13 victory over Crusaders RL. He played in the 2013 Challenge Cup Final victory over Hull F.C. at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. It was Goulding who also scored the try just before half time in Wigan's 2013 Grand Final win over the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

. His try brought the score back to 16-6 after the Warriors went 16-2 down and Wigan came back in the second half to win 30-16 at

Hull KR

In July 2014,

announced that Goulding had signed a three-year contract with the club starting from the 2015 season. Just 8 matches into his Hull KR career, however, Goulding was forced to retire from the sport due to a string of concussion injuries. His retirement was formally announced on Monday 1 June 2015.Darrell Goulding: Hull KR centre forced to retire aged 27
/ref>

International career

Goulding was selected for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

U17s, England U15 and U16s while part of the Wigan scholarship system. He was also included in the England U17s squad to take on the touring

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in 2005. In September 2010 he was called into the senior England squad for the first time for the

2010 Four Nations The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France. ...

series in Australia and New Zealand, starting against the Kiwis in a 24-10 defeat in Wellington and also against the Kangaroos in a 34-14 defeat in Melbourne.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Wigan Warriors profileDarrell Goulding Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goulding, Darrell 1988 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Hull Kingston Rovers players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league wingers Salford Red Devils players Wigan Warriors players